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Author Notes: When I was young, my mother made lots of different kinds of cookies in the weeks leading up to Christmas. These "snowflakes" (which technically aren't really cookies, but no matter) were among my favorites because they were simple enough that my sister and I could actually help my mother make them. We often filled tins with these to take to our teachers before school let out for Christmas vacation. I've never been a huge fan of the bland sweetness of white chocolate, but when it's combined with something salty -- like pretzels, or the salted peanuts in these snowflakes -- I can be swayed. Really, these snowflakes are just Rice Krispies treats for grownups. Of course, if you don't like white chocolate, or Rice Krispies, you can experiment with milk or dark chocolate or use different types of cereal (I think Cheerios would be pretty good). Best of all, the snowflakes take all of 15 minutes to make, leaving you with plenty of time to write cards or wrap presents or do whatever else you don't have enough time to do. - Merrill Stubbs

Makes about 40 snowflakes

1pound white chocolate, chopped

2 1/2cups Rice Krispies

1cup salted roasted peanuts

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Stir in the Rice Krispies and the peanuts, coating the dry ingredients evenly in the chocolate.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of the mixture in little mounds onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper or parchment (no need to space them apart too much as you won't be baking them, so they won't spread). Refrigerate uncovered until the chocolate hardens, at least 30 minutes, before eating. Once they've hardened, store the snowflakes in the refrigerator in a sealed container so the chocolate doesn't melt.

I have been making a version of these for years. my father loved them so now I make them in his honor. I use a combination of rice krispies, cheerios, salted roasted peanuts and when making them during christmas I had red or green sprinkles over the top before the white chocolate hardens

I love this recipe. I modified it slightly and used a high quality white chocolate chip rather than plain white chocolate. With the white chocolate chips I don't have to worry about the cookies getting gooey at room temp: http://foodhelp.wordpress...

I made 2 batches of these today, first with milk chocolate and roasted and salted macadamia nuts (OMG good) and then with Valrhona chocolate pearls (chocolate covered puffed rice), roasted salted macadamia nuts and white chocolate (also very good but definitely sweet). I'll be curious to see how long they actually stick around! I'm guessing not long. Was very easy.

Easy! They looked like rice krispie treats while cooking, but don't be fooled because the white chocolate sets up differently. We added crushed candy canes. Next time, I might add crushed pretzels for the non-peanut crowd. I also think slightly chopping up the nuts would be better to disseminate them better throughout the clusters. These should definitely be teaspoon size -- as they're rich, but tasty and fun.

Does the white chocolate bloom? Do you not bother tempting the chocolate in this recipe? Milk chocolate sounds even better-if less pretty-but I feel like lack of tempting could be an even bigger problem there .